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What is the “Minimum” in Minimum Viable Product?

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“Minimum Viable Product,” or “MVP,” is a concept of agile development and business growth. With a minimum viable product, you focus on creating the simplest, most basic version of your product, web application, or code possible.

Minimum viable products include just enough features to attract early adopters and validate your idea in the early stages of the development lifecycle. Choosing an MVP workflow can be particularly valuable in the software environment because it helps teams receive, learn from, and respond to feedback as quickly as possible.

The question is, how exactly do you define the “minimum” in MVP? How do you know if your MVP creation is basic enough while still being “viable”?

Defining the Minimum Viable Product: An Introduction

The concept of “Minimum Viable Product” comes from the Lean Start-up Methodology, introduced by Eric Ries. The purpose of MVP is to help companies quickly create versions of a product while collecting validated insights from customers for each iteration. Companies may choose to develop and release minimum viable products because they want to:

  • Introduce new products into the market as quickly as possible;
  • Test an idea with real users before committing a large budget to product development;
  • Create a competitive product with the use of frequent upgrades;
  • Learn what resonates with the target market of the company;
  • Explore different versions of the same product.

Aside from allowing your company to validate an idea for a product without building the entire concept from scratch, an MVP can also reduce the demand on a company’s time and resources. This is why so many smaller start-ups with limited budgets use the MVP and lean production strategy to keep costs as low as possible.

Defining an MVP: What your Minimum Viable Product Isn’t

When you’re building a Minimum Viable Product, you’re concentrating on developing only the most “essential” features that need to be in that product. For instance, you might be building a shopping app for a website. For the app to be “viable,” it would need to allow customers to search through products and add them to a basket or shopping cart. The app would also need a checkout feature and security components.

However, additional functionality, like the ability to send questions about an item to a customer service team or features that allow clients to add products to a “wish list,” may not be necessary straight away. Part of defining a minimum viable product is understanding what it isn’t. For instance, an MVP is not:

  • A prototype: Prototypes are often mentioned alongside MVPs because they can help with early-stage product validation. However, prototypes are generally not intended for customers to use. The “minimum” version of a viable product still needs to be developed enough for clients and users to put it to the test and provide feedback.
  • A minimum marketable product: An MVP is a learning vehicle that allows companies to create various iterations of an item over time. However, a minimum marketable product is a complete item, ready to sell, with features or “selling points” the company can highlight to differentiate the item from the competition.
  • Proof of concept: This is another similar but distinct idea from MVP. Proof of concept items test an idea you have to determine whether it’s attainable. There usually aren’t any customers involved in this process. Instead, companies create small projects to assess business solutions’ technical capabilities and feasibility. You can sometimes use a proof of concept before moving on to an MVP.

Finding the Minimum in your MVP

When finding the “minimum” in a minimum viable product, the primary challenge is ensuring the right balance. Ideally, you need your MVP to be as essential, cost-effective, and straightforward as possible so that you can create several iterations in a short space of time. The simpler the product, the easier it is to adapt it, roll it out to your customers, and learn from their feedback.

However, developers and business leaders shouldn’t get so caught up focusing on the “Minimum” part of Minimum Viable Product that they forget the central segment: “Viable”; your product still needs to achieve a specific purpose.

So, how do you find the minimum in your MVP?

1. Decide on Your Goal or Purpose

First, you’ll need to determine what your product needs to do to be deemed viable. What goal or target do you hope to achieve with your new product? For instance, in the example we mentioned above, where you’re creating an ecommerce shopping app, the most basic thing the app needs to do is allow customers to shop for and purchase items on a smartphone.

Consider the overall selling point of your product or service and decide what the “nice to haves” are, compared to the essential features. For instance, your AR app needs to allow people to interact with augmented digital content on a smartphone, but it may not need to work with all versions of the latest AR smart glasses.

2. Make a List of Features

Once you know the goal or purpose of your product, the next step is to make a list of features or capabilities you can rank according to importance. You can base your knowledge of what’s “most important” for your customers by looking at things like:

  • Competitor analysis: What do your competitors already offer in this category, and where are the gaps in their service or product?
  • User research: Which features or functionalities are most important to your target audience? How can you make your solution stand out from the crowd?
  • Industry knowledge: As an expert in your industry, you should have some basic understanding of what it will take to make your product “usable.”

3. Create Your Iterations

Once you’ve defined your most important features, the next stage is simply building the simplest version of your product. Build the item according to what you consider to be its most essential features and ask yourself whether it’s serving its purpose.

If your solution seems to be “viable,” you can roll it out to your target audience or a small group of beta testers to get their feedback and validate the offering. Use focus groups and market interviews to collect as much information as possible about what people like or dislike.

Using your feedback, you can begin to implement changes to your “minimum” viable product to add more essential features or functionality.

Understanding the “Minimum Viable Product”

Minimum viable products are evident throughout multiple industries and markets today – particularly in the digitally transforming world. For instance, Amazon might be one of the world’s most popular online marketplaces today, but it didn’t start that way. Instead, Jeff Bezos began purchasing books from distributors and shipping them to customers every time his online store received an order to determine whether the book-selling landscape would work.

When Foursquare first began, it had only one feature. People could check-in at different locations and win badges. The gamification factor was what made people so excited about using the service. Other examples include:

  • Groupon: Groupon is a pretty huge discount and voucher platform today, operating in companies all around the world. However, it started life as a simple minimum viable product promoting the services of local businesses and offering exclusive deals for a short time. Now Groupon is constantly evolving and updating its offerings.
  • Airbnb: Beginning with the use of the founders’ own apartment, Airbnb became a unicorn company giving people the opportunity to list places for short-term rental worldwide. The founders rented out their own apartment to determine whether people would consider staying in someone else’s home before eventually expanding.
  • Facebook: Upon release, Facebook was a simple social media tool used for connecting with friends. Profiles were basic, and all members were students of Harvard University. The idea quickly grew and evolved into a global social network. Facebook continues to learn from the feedback of its users and implement new features today.

Creating Your Minimum Viable Product

Your definition of a “minimum viable product” may not be the same as the definition chosen by another developer or business leader. The key to success is finding the right balance between viability – and the purpose of your product, and simplicity – or minimizing your features.

Start by figuring out what your product simply can’t be without, and gradually add more features as you learn and gain feedback from your audience. While it can be challenging to produce something so “minimalistic” at first, you need to be willing to release those small and consistent iterations if you want to leverage all the benefits of an MVP.

Suppose you can successfully define the meaning of the words “Minimum” and “Viable” simultaneously with your new product creations. In that case, the result should be an agile business, lean workflows, and better development processes for your entire team.

 

Featured image via Pexels.

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SAP et BearingPoint s’associent sur la voie de la neutralité carbone

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Paris, France & Walldorf, Allemagne, le 16 févr. 2022 – SAP SE (NYSE : SAP) et le cabinet de conseil en management et technologie BearingPoint ont annoncé unir leurs forces dans le domaine des solutions liées à l’empreinte carbone et environnementale. Les entreprises collaboreront afin de faire progresser la conception et le développement d’une solution de pointe aidant les clients à atteindre l’objectif de neutralité carbone.

Mesurer, contrôler et piloter l’empreinte carbone est un élément clé pour atteindre l’objectif de neutralité carbone et fait partie du programme d’action climatique promu par SAP. Les entreprises sont soumises à une pression croissante pour déterminer leur empreinte carbone, non seulement au niveau de l’entreprise, mais également au niveau des produits. Cependant, l’acquisition, la consolidation et la cartographie des données sont des défis auxquels de nombreuses entreprises sont confrontées. Avec le récent lancement de SAP® Cloud for Sustainable Enterprises les solutions SAP pour le développement durable et la longue expérience de BearingPoint en matière de calcul des émissions sur le marché, les entreprises sont bien équipées pour développer des solutions innovantes permettant de répondre aux préoccupations de leurs clients en matière d’empreinte environnementale sur l’ensemble de leur chaîne de valeur.

« Le partenariat de codéveloppement entre SAP et BearingPoint permettra de réunir deux propositions de valeur fortes. BearingPoint a une longue expérience dans l’identification des potentiels de réduction des émissions de gaz à effet de serre et l’atteinte des objectifs de développement durable des clients. SAP apporte des capacités d’innovation, un large éventail de systèmes et un accès aux clients. Ensemble, en tant que partenaires, nous repousserons les limites pour faire avancer l’économie sur la voie de la neutralité carbone », a déclaré Gunther Rothermel, SVP, responsable du développement durable de SAP S/4HANA, SAP.

 

Bilan carbone pour l’ensemble de la chaîne de valeur : scope 1, 2 et 3

Si de nombreuses entreprises ont déjà évalué leurs émissions de scope 1 et 2, il est essentiel d’évaluer l’ensemble de la chaîne de valeur en introduisant les émissions de scope 3. Pour ce faire, les réseaux environnementaux doivent permettre l’échange de données avec des partenaires tels que les fournisseurs, les clients, les auditeurs et les pouvoirs publics, même s’ils utilisent des systèmes informatiques différents. S’appuyant sur le savoir-faire approfondi de BearingPoint en matière de calculs et d’algorithmes relatifs à l’empreinte des produits et des entreprises, la solution SAP Product Footprint Management prend en charge la collecte et le calcul des données permettant la réalisation d’un bilan carbone et environnemental de bout en bout. La solution SAP est entièrement intégrée à SAP® S/4HANA et à l’architecture d’entreprise intelligente, mais se connecte également à d’autres sources de données. Cela lui permet d’effectuer des évaluations automatisées des empreintes à travers la chaîne de valeur, y compris dans des paysages de systèmes hétérogènes.

« Avec SAP, nous allons codévelopper – en utilisant notre logiciel propriétaire – et fournir une solution unique sur le marché permettant de mesurer et d’optimiser l’impact climatique des produits tout au long de leur cycle de vie. SAP Product Footprint Management dispose de fonctionnalités sophistiquées permettant de déterminer l’empreinte carbone d’un seul produit. Notre expérience industrielle éprouvée depuis plus de 10 ans dans le calcul et l’optimisation de l’empreinte « CO2 » des produits et des entreprises permettra à nos clients communs d’atteindre leurs objectifs de dé-carbonisation. Chez BearingPoint, nous sommes convaincus qu’avec les solutions innovantes de SAP, son organisation commerciale et son expertise du marché, nous pouvons avoir un impact positif sur le climat », a déclaré Donald Wachs, Responsable des Business Services et membre du comité de Direction BearingPoint.

« Le partenariat avec BearingPoint accélère la feuille de route de la solution SAP Product Footprint Management et contribuera à faire de nous un leader du marché des solutions de calcul des empreintes produit aidant nos clients à optimiser la durabilité de leurs produits et services », a déclaré Peter Maier, président de la division Industries et conseil à la clientèle de SAP.

 

À propos de SAP

La stratégie de SAP est d’aider chaque entreprise à fonctionner comme une entreprise intelligente. En tant que leader du marché des logiciels d’application d’entreprise, nous aidons les entreprises de toutes tailles et de tous secteurs à fonctionner au mieux : les clients de SAP génèrent 87% du commerce mondial. Nos technologies de machine learning, d’Internet des objets (IoT) et d’analyse avancée contribuent à transformer les activités des clients en entreprises intelligentes. SAP permet aux personnes et aux organisations d’avoir une vision approfondie de l’activité et favorise la collaboration, cela les aidant à garder une longueur d’avance sur leurs concurrents. Nous simplifions la technologie pour les entreprises afin qu’elles puissent consommer nos logiciels comme elles l’entendent, sans interruption. Notre suite d’applications et de services de bout en bout permet aux entreprises et aux administrations publiques de 25 secteurs d’activité dans le monde entier de fonctionner de manière rentable, de s’adapter en permanence et de faire la différence. Avec un réseau mondial de clients, de partenaires, d’employés et de leaders d’opinion, SAP aide le monde à mieux fonctionner et améliore la vie des gens.

Pour plus d’informations, visitez www.sap.com.

 

À propos de BearingPoint

BearingPoint est un cabinet de conseil en management et technologie indépendant aux racines européennes et à la couverture mondiale.

Le cabinet est structuré autour de trois entités.  La première couvre les activités de conseil en mettant clairement l’accent sur les domaines d’expertises clés du cabinet à développer dans le monde entier. La deuxième fournit des solutions technologiques avancées combinant conseil et logiciel, et offre des services gérés à forte valeur ajoutée aux clients. La troisième se concentre sur des investissements innovants ; par exemple dans des solutions logicielles très spécifiques permettant de répondre aux exigences réglementaires ou d’accompagner la transformation numérique. Elle a également pour vocation d’explorer des business models innovants avec les clients et les partenaires, en favorisant la création d’écosystèmes, le financement et le développement de start-ups.

BearingPoint compte parmi ses clients les plus grandes organisations mondiales publiques et privées ; fort d’un réseau international de plus de 10 000 collaborateurs, BearingPoint accompagne ses clients dans plus de 75 pays et les aide à obtenir des résultats mesurables et durables.

 

Informations complémentaires:

Site Internet: www.bearingpoint.com

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/bearingpoint

Twitter: @BearingPoint_de

 

Contact presse Bearing Point

Alexander Bock

Global Manager Communications

Téléphone: +49 89 540338029

E-mail: alexander.bock@bearingpoint.com

 

Publicis Consultants pour SAP

Chloé Jalaguier : chloe.jalaguier@publicisconsultants.com

Robin Legros : robin.legros@publicisconsultants.com

The post SAP et BearingPoint s’associent sur la voie de la neutralité carbone appeared first on SAP France News.

Source de l’article sur sap.com

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IBM et SAP renforcent leur partenariat afin d’aider leurs clients à migrer les applications des solutions SAP® vers le Cloud

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IBM et SAP renforcent leur partenariat afin d’aider leurs clients à migrer les applications des solutions SAP® vers le Cloud

IBM est le premier partenaire à proposer une infrastructure Cloud et des services techniques managés de manière intégrée dans le cadre de l’offre RISE with SAP

 

ARMONK, N.Y. et Walldorf, Allemagne, le 10 février 2022 : IBM (NYSE: IBM) a annoncé aujourd’hui qu’elle s’associait avec SAP (NYSE : SAP) pour fournir une expertise en matière de technologie et de conseil afin de permettre aux clients d’adopter plus facilement une approche Cloud hybride et de migrer les applications critiques des solutions SAP® vers le Cloud pour les secteurs réglementés et non réglementés.

Alors que les clients cherchent à adopter des stratégies de Cloud hybride, la migration des applications qui constituent l’épine dorsale du fonctionnement de leur entreprise nécessite un environnement Cloud hautement sécurisé et fiable. Avec le lancement aujourd’hui de l’option IBM – Premium Supplier pour RISE with SAP, les clients disposeront des outils nécessaires pour accélérer la migration de leurs applications SAP en local vers IBM Cloud, avec des capacités de sécurité de pointe[1].

IBM dévoile également un nouveau programme, BREAKTHROUGH with IBM pour RISE with SAP, un portefeuille de solutions et de services de conseil qui permettent d’accélérer et d’amplifier le passage à SAP S/4HANA® Cloud. Construits sur une plateforme flexible et évolutive, les solutions et services utilisent des processus intelligents pour rationaliser les opérations. Ils offrent un modèle d’engagement qui permet de planifier, d’exécuter et de soutenir la transformation globale de l’entreprise. Les clients ont également la flexibilité et le choix de migrer les applications des solutions SAP vers le Cloud en bénéficiant d’une expertise sectorielle approfondie.

L’annonce faite aujourd’hui qu’IBM devient un premium supplier fait de la compagnie le premier fournisseur Cloud à proposer des services d’infrastructure, de transformation métier et de gestion technique des applications de manière intégrée dans le cadre de RISE with SAP. La désignation d’IBM en tant que premium supplier s’inscrit dans la continuité des efforts de longue date déployés par SAP pour offrir un choix et des options aux clients, en soutenant davantage les clients d’IBM qui préfèrent que leur package RISE with SAP s’exécute sur IBM Cloud.

De plus, la migration vers SAP S/4HANA® sur IBM Cloud à partir de datacenters en local peut potentiellement apporter les avantages suivants, selon une étude d’IDC, sponsorisée par IBM[2] :

  • Retour sur investissement : selon les utilisateurs interrogés, la migration vers SAP S/4HANA® sur IBM Cloud a entraîné une augmentation du chiffre d’affaires pour jusqu’à 90 % des entreprises qui ont effectué la transition.
  • Réduction des coûts : Plus de 80 % des organisations ayant participé à l’étude ont déclaré avoir constaté une réduction des coûts opérationnels.
  • Une productivité accrue : 9 entreprises sur 10 interrogées dans l’étude ont déclaré avoir amélioré leur productivité après avoir migré vers SAP S/4HANA® sur IBM Cloud.

« Nous sommes ravis de faire progresser notre partenariat de longue date avec SAP à travers RISE », a déclaré John Granger, Senior Vice President, IBM Consulting. « Notre engagement commun est de répondre à nos clients, notamment ceux des secteurs hautement réglementés, là où ils en sont dans leur parcours numérique, tout en leur offrant des choix pour migrer ou moderniser leurs applications critiques avec une approche de Cloud hybride. »

« BREAKTHROUGH with IBM est un complément exceptionnel à RISE with SAP, car il jette les bases permettant à nos clients de se lancer dans la transformation de leur entreprise ou de la faire progresser. En outre, il réaffirme la valeur que les clients reconnaissent à RISE with SAP ainsi que l’impact et l’opportunité d’innovation que RISE with SAP offre aux organisations qui migrent vers le Cloud. Je suis convaincu que l’expertise et l’expérience combinées de SAP et d’IBM permettront d’accélérer l’adoption du Cloud et la croissance des activités pour les clients du monde entier », a déclaré Brian Duffy, President of Cloud, SAP.

IBM et SAP ont travaillé avec des centaines de clients dans le monde entier sur des milliers de projets individuels visant à moderniser leurs systèmes et leurs processus métier sur la base d’une approche Cloud hybride ouverte. Parmi les exemples récents, citons Coca-Cola European Partners, Parle Products, Harmont & Blaine, Puravankara Ltd et Virgin Megastore KSA.

Soulignant son engagement envers SAP S/4HANA®, à la fois en tant que client SAP et partenaire commercial depuis 50 ans, IBM a également réalisé un investissement important dans RISE with SAP en engageant la transformation de ses propres applications SAP. IBM est un nouveau Premium Supplier pour l’offre RISE with SAP et utilise le Cloud hybride d’IBM, y compris l’Infrastructure as a Service IBM Power, afin d’améliorer les performances, la disponibilité et la sécurité des déploiements d’éditions privées de SAP S/4HANA® Cloud.

Pour en savoir plus sur le programme BREAKTHROUGH with IBM pour l’offre RISE with SAP : https://www.ibm.com/services/sap/rise-with-sap.

 

À propos d’IBM

IBM est un leader mondial du Cloud hybride et de l’IA, ainsi que des services aux entreprises, qui aide ses clients dans plus de 175 pays à capitaliser sur les connaissances issues de leurs données, à rationaliser leurs processus métier, à réduire leurs coûts et à acquérir un avantage concurrentiel dans leurs secteurs d’activité. Près de 3 000 entités gouvernementales et entreprises dans des domaines d’infrastructures critiques tels que les services financiers, les télécommunications et les soins de santé font confiance à la plateforme Cloud hybride d’IBM et à Red Hat OpenShift pour impacter leurs transformations numériques rapidement, efficacement et en toute sécurité. Les innovations révolutionnaires d’IBM en matière d’IA, d’informatique quantique, de solutions Cloud spécifiques à certains secteurs et de services aux entreprises offrent des options ouvertes et flexibles à nos clients. Tout cela est soutenu par l’engagement légendaire d’IBM en matière de confiance, de transparence, de responsabilité, d’inclusivité et de service.

Pour en savoir plus : www.ibm.com

Les déclarations d’IBM concernant ses orientations et intentions futures sont sujettes à modification ou retrait sans préavis et ne représentent que des buts et des objectifs.

 

À propos de SAP

La stratégie de SAP vise à aider chaque organisation à fonctionner en « entreprise intelligente ». En tant que leader du marché des logiciels d’application d’entreprise, nous aidons les entreprises de toutes tailles et de tous secteurs à opérer au mieux : Les clients de SAP génèrent 87 % du commerce mondial total. Nos technologies de Machine Learning, d’Internet des objets (IoT) et d’analytique avancées aident nos clients à transformer leurs activités en « entreprises intelligentes ». SAP permet aux personnes et aux organisations d’avoir une vision approfondie de leur business et favorise la collaboration afin qu’elles puissent garder une longueur d’avance sur leurs concurrents. Nous simplifions la technologie afin que les entreprises puissent utiliser nos logiciels comme elles le souhaitent – sans interruption. Notre suite d’applications et de services de bout en bout permet aux clients privés et publics de 25 secteurs d’activité dans le monde de fonctionner de manière rentable, de s’adapter en permanence et de faire la différence. Avec son réseau mondial de clients, partenaires, employés et leaders d’opinion, SAP aide le monde à mieux fonctionner et à améliorer la vie de chacun.

Pour plus d’informations, visitez le site www.sap.com.

[1] Based on IBM Hyper Protect Crypto Service, the only service in the industry built on FIPS 140-2 Level 4-certified hardware. FIPS 140-2 Security Level 4 provides the highest level of security defined in this standard. At this security level, the physical security mechanisms provide a comprehensive envelope of protection around the cryptographic module with the intent of detecting and responding to all unauthorized attempts at physical access.

[2]  IDC White Paper, sponsored by IBM, Business Benefits Possible by Choosing the Right Cloud Provider to Run SAP Workloads. Doc #US47166220, December 2020.

 

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WordPress Website Analysis: Before & After ImageEngine

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WordPress is by far the world’s most popular CMS. Not only does it dominate the CMS market with a 64% market share, but it also powers 39.6% of all websites. It has taken the internet by storm by democratizing the web for all. Now, anyone can build, manage, and host a successful website without needing a college degree or coding expertise.

However, while WordPress is great at managing many technical aspects, it still can’t do everything for you. Built mostly on PHP, there are often concerns regarding how performant WordPress is. And, with performance impacting everything from bounce rates to SEO rankings to conversions, it’s something that should be on your radar too.

If you don’t know it yet, images are one of the main causes of slow-loading websites. In recent years, WordPress has stepped up its efforts to try and help users with image optimization out-of-the-box.

Still, as we’ll show, it’s not a total solution, and there is still plenty you can do to deliver better experiences on your WordPress website through image optimization.

What is WordPress Image Optimization? Why is it Important?

Simply put, image optimization is anything you do to make images load faster on your website pages. Almost all websites that use images can benefit from some form of image optimization, even those using WordPress.

Why?

Well, performance is a hugely significant factor when it comes to the competitiveness of your website today.

Google has also made performance an increasingly important factor when it comes to SEO rankings. In fact, performance is a direct ranking signal that carries significant weight.

Google’s Page Experience Update that went live in 2021 has been the biggest move in that direction yet. Soon, Google might even use visual indicators in SERP results to distinguish high-performing websites from the rest.

In Google’s own words, “These signals measure how users perceive the experience of interacting with a web page and contribute to our ongoing work to ensure people get the most helpful and enjoyable experiences from the web.”

So, Why Should We Target Images For Performance Optimization?

According to Google, images are the largest contributor to page weight. Google has also singled out image optimization specifically as the factor with the most untapped potential for performance optimization.

This problem isn’t going away soon. According to data by the HTTP Archive, there are roughly 967.5 KB bytes of image data on desktop web pages and 866.3 KB of image data on mobile pages. This is an increase of 16.1% and 38.8%, respectively, over the last five years.

Thanks to popular e-commerce tools like Woocommerce, it’s estimated that up to 28% of all online sales happen on WordPress websites.

And don’t forget, images are both a key part of conveying information to the user and integral to the design of your website. If they take significantly longer to load than your text, for example, it will negatively impact the user experience in a variety of ways.

In summary, optimized images help your WordPress website by:

  • Improving user satisfaction.
  • Improving various traffic metrics, like bounce rates, time-on-page, etc.
  • Boosting your SEO rankings.
  • Contributing to higher conversions (and sales).

How Does Image Optimization in WordPress Work?

WordPress is so popular because it’s a CMS (content management system) that allows anyone to build, design, and manage a website without any coding or advanced technical experience. Advanced features can be installed with just a few clicks, thanks to plugins, and you rarely have to touch the code behind your website unless you want to make some unique modifications.

In short, using a CMS like WordPress shields you from many of the day-to-day technicalities of running a website.

WordPress Image Optimization: What It Can Do

As we mentioned, one of the main reasons WordPress is so popular is because it takes care of many of the technical aspects of running a website. With that in mind, many think that WordPress should also automatically take care of image optimization without them having to get involved at all.

Unfortunately, that’s not really the case.

True, WordPress does offer some built-in image optimization. Whenever you upload an image to WordPress, it currently compresses the quality to about 82% of the original (since v4.5).

In v4.4, WordPress also introduced responsive image syntax using the srcset attribute. This creates four breakpoints for each image you upload according to the default WordPress image sizes:

  • 150px square for thumbnails
  • 300px width for medium images
  • 768px max-width for medium_large images
  • 1024px max-width for large images.

Here you can see an example of the actual responsive syntax code generated by WordPress:

<img loading="lazy" src="https://bleedingcosmos.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/33-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-9" width="610" height="406" srcset="https://bleedingcosmos.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/33-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://bleedingcosmos.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/33-300x200.jpg 300w, https://bleedingcosmos.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/33-768x512.jpg 768w, https://bleedingcosmos.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/33-1536x1024.jpg 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 610px) 100vw, 610px">

Depending on the screen size of the device from which a user visits your webpage, WordPress will let the browser pick the most appropriately sized image. For example, the smallest version for mobile displays or the largest for 4K Retina screens, like those of a Mac.

While this may seem impressive, it’s only a fraction of what can be achieved using a proper image optimization solution, as we’ll show later.

Lastly, WordPress implemented HTML native default lazy loading for all images starting with version 5.5.

So, in short, WordPress offers the following image optimization capabilities baked-in:

  • Quality compression (limited)
  • Responsive syntax (up to 4 breakpoints)
  • Lazy loading

WordPress Image Optimization: What it Cannot Do

There are other issues many have with both the implementation of image compression and responsive syntax as it’s used by WordPress. This leads to some users even purposefully deactivating WordPress’ built-in image optimization so they can fully take control of it themselves.

Here are some of the reasons why:

  • WordPress uses a very basic form of quality compression. It does not use advanced technologies like AI and machine learning algorithms to compress images while maintaining maximum visual quality. It’s also lossy compression, so the quality is lost for good. You can clearly see the difference between an original HD image and the compressed version created by WordPress.
  • WordPress only compresses most images by up to 20%, while advanced image optimization tools can reduce all image sizes intelligently by up to 80%.
  • Responsive syntax can provide significant performance improvements over simply uploading a single HD image to be served on all devices and screens. However, it’s still only limited to a set number of breakpoints (typically 3 or 4). Since it’s not dynamic, a whole spectrum of possible image sizes is not created or used.
  • Responsive syntax code is not scalable and can quickly lead to code that’s bloated, messy, and hard to read.
  • WordPress doesn’t accelerate image delivery by automatically caching and serving them via a global CDN, although this can be done using other tools.

Another important optimization feature that WordPress does not have is auto-conversion to next-gen image file formats. Different image formats offer different performance benefits on different devices. Some formats also enable higher levels of compression while maintaining visual fidelity.

Next-gen formats like WebP, AVIF, and JPEG-2000 are considered to be the most optimal formats on compatible devices. For example, until recently, WebP would be the optimal choice on Chrome browsers, while JPEG-4000 would be optimal on Safari browsers.

However, WordPress will simply serve images in the same formats in which they were originally uploaded to all visitors.

How to Measure the Image Performance of a WordPress Website?

As the undisputed king of search engines, we’ll base most of our performance metrics on guidelines established by Google.

Along with its various performance updates, Google has released a number of guidelines for developers as well as the tools to test and improve their websites according to said guidelines.

Google introduced Core Web Vitals as the primary metrics for measuring a web page’s performance and its effect on the user experience. Thus, Core Web Vitals are referred to as “user-centric performance metrics.” They are an attempt to give developers a testable and quantifiable way to measure an elusive and abstract concept such as “user experience.”

Combined with a number of other factors, Core Web Vitals constitute a major part of the overall page experience signal:

You can find a complete introduction to Core Web Vitals here. However, they currently consist of three main metrics:

  • LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): The time it takes the largest above-the-fold element on your page to load. This is typically a full-sized image or hero section.
  • FID (First Input Delay): The delay from the moment a user first interacts with an element on the page until it becomes responsive.
  • CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): The visual stability with which the elements on a page load.

Here is an illustration of how these metrics are scored:

While these are the three most important metrics to optimize, they are not the only ones. Google still measures other metrics like the FCP (First Contentful Paint), SI (Speed Index), as well as the TTFB (Time to First Byte), TBT (Total Blocking Time), and TTI (Time to Interactive).

A number of these metrics are directly affected by the images used on your web pages. For example, LCP, FCP, and SI are direct indicators of how fast the content of your web page loads and depends on the overall byte size of the page. However, it can also indirectly affect FID by keeping the main thread busy with rendering large amounts of image content or the perceived CLS by delaying the time it takes large images to load.

These metrics apply to all websites, whether they are custom-made or built using a CMS like WordPress.

When using tools like Lighthouse or PageSpeed Insights, you’ll also get scored based on other flags Google deems important. Some of them are specific to images, such as properly sizing images and serving images in next-gen formats.

If you only use built-in WordPress image optimization, you’ll get flagged for the following opportunities for improvement:

Some of the audits it will pass, however, are deferring offscreen images (lazy loading) and efficiently coding images (due to compression):

A Better Way to Optimize WordPress Images: ImageEngine

Billions of websites are all vying for prime real estate on Google SERPs, as well as the attention of an increasingly fussy internet-using public. Every inch matters when it comes to giving your website a competitive advantage.

So, how can you eliminate those remaining performance flags and deliver highly optimized images that will keep both your visitors and Google happy?

Sure, you could manually optimize images using software like PhotoShop or GIMP. However, that will take you hours for each new batch of images. Plus, you still won’t benefit from any automated adaptive optimization.

A more reasonable solution in today’s fast-paced climate is to use a tool developed specifically for maximum image optimization: an image CDN like ImageEngine.

ImageEngine is an automated, cloud-based image optimization service using device detection as well as intelligent image compression using the power of AI and machine learning. It can reduce image payloads by up to 80% while maintaining visual quality and accelerating delivery around the world thanks to its CDN with geographically dispersed PoPs.

Why is ImageEngine Image Optimization Better Than WordPress?

When making a head-to-head comparison, here are the reasons why ImageEngine can deliver better performance:

  • Device Detection: ImageEngine features built-in device detection. This means it picks up what device a visitor to your website is using and tailors its optimization strategy to what’s best for that specific device.
  • Client hints: By supporting client hints, ImageEngine has access to even more information regarding the device and browser to make better optimization decisions.
  • Next-gen formats: Based on optimal settings, ImageEngine automatically converts and serves images in next-gen formats like WebP, AVIF, JPEG2000, and MP4 (for GIFs).
  • Save data header: When a Chrome user has save-data mode enabled, ImageEngine will automatically compress images more aggressively to save on data transfer.
  • CDN with dedicated edge servers: ImageEngine will automatically cache and serve your optimized image assets using its global CDN. Each edge server has device awareness built-in to bring down latency and accelerate delivery. You can also choose to prioritize specific regions.

So, the key differentiator is that ImageEngine can tailor optimizing images for what’s optimal for each of your visitors. ImageEngine is particularly good at serving mobile visitors thanks to WURFL device detection, which can dynamically resize images according to most devices and screen sizes in use today. As of now, this is a completely unique capability that none of its competitors offer.

It allows for far better and more fine-tuned optimization than WordPress’ across-the-board approach to compression and responsive syntax.

If you want, you could turn off WordPress responsive syntax and compression, and you would still experience a performance increase using ImageEngine. However, ImageEngine also plays nice with responsive syntax, so it’s not completely necessary unless you want to serve the highest-fidelity/low-byte-size images possible.

How Does ImageEngine Work with WordPress?

The process ImageEngine uses to integrate with WordPress can be broken down into a few easy steps:

  • Sign up for an ImageEngine account: ImageEngine offers three pricing plans depending on the scale and features you need as well as a no-commitment 30-day free trial.
  • Specify your image origin: This tells ImageEngine where to find the original versions of your images. For a WordPress website, you can just use your domain, e.g., https://mywordpresswebsite.com. ImageEngine will then automatically pull the images you’ve uploaded to your WordPress website.

  • Copy the Delivery Address: After you create an account and specify your image origin, ImageEngine will provide you with a Delivery Address. A Delivery Address is your own unique address that will be used in your <img> tags to point back to the ImageEngine service. Delivery Addresses may be on a shared domain (imgeng.in) or customized using a domain that you own. A Delivery Address typically looks something like {random_string}.cdn.imgeng.in. If your images are uploaded to the default WordPress folder /wp-content/uploads/, you can access your optimized images from ImageEngine simply by changing your website domain. For example, by typing {imageengine_domain}.cdn.imgeng.in/wp-content/uploads/myimage.jpg into your browser, you’ll see the optimized version of that image. Just press the copy button next to the Delivery Address and use it in the next step configuring the plugin.

  • Install the ImageEngine Optimizer CDN plugin: The plugin is completely free and can be installed just like any other plugin from the WordPress repository.
  • Configure and enable ImageEngine Plugin in WordPress: Just go to the plugin under “ImageEngine” in the main navigation menu. Then, copy and paste in your ImageEngine “Delivery Address,” tick the “Enabled” checkbox, and click “Save Changes” to enable ImageEngine:

Now, all ImageEngine basically does is replace your WordPress website domain in image URLs with your new ImageEngine Delivery Address. This makes it a simple, lightweight, and non-interfering plugin that works great with most other plugins and themes. It also doesn’t add unnecessary complexity or weight to your WordPress website pages.

ImageEngine vs Built-in WordPress Image Optimization

So, now let’s get down to business by testing the performance improvement you can expect from using ImageEngine to optimize your image assets.

To do this test, we set up a basic WordPress page containing a number of high-quality images. I then used PageSpeed Insights and the Lighthouse Performance Calculator to get the performance scores before and after using ImageEngine.

Importantly, we conducted this test from a mobile-first perspective. Not only has mobile internet traffic surpassed desktop traffic globally, but Google themselves have committed to mobile-first indexing as a result.

Here is a PageSpeed score using the Lighthouse calculator for WordPress with no image optimization:

As we can see, both Core Web Vitals and other important metrics were flagged as “needs improvement.” Specifically, the LCP, FCP, and TBT. In this case, both the LCP and FCP were a high-res featured image at the top of the page.

If we go to the opportunities for improvement highlighted by PageSpeed, we see where the issues come from. We could still save as much as 4.2s of loading time by properly resizing images and a further 2.7s by serving them in next-gen formats:

So, now let’s see how much ImageEngine can improve on that.

The same test run on my WordPress website using ImageEngine got the following results:

As you can see, we now have a 100 PageSpeed score. I saved roughly 2.5s on the SI (~86%) as well as roughly 1.7s on the LCP (~60%). There was also a slight improvement in the FCP.

Not only will you enjoy a stronger page experience signal from Google, but this represents a tangible difference to visitors regarding the speed with which your website loads. That difference will lead to lower bounce rates, increased user satisfaction, and more conversions.

There was also a 53% overall reduction in the total image payload. This is impressive, considering that it’s on top of WordPress’ built-in compression and responsive syntax.

Conclusion

So, as someone with a WordPress website, what can you take away from this?

Well, first of all, WordPress does feature some basic image optimization. And while not perfect, it should help you offer reasonable levels of performance, even if you use a lot of image content.

However, the caveat is that WordPress applies aggressive, across-the-board compression, which will lead to a noticeable reduction in visual quality. If you use WordPress for any type of website where premium quality images are important, this is a concern — for example, as a photography portfolio, exhibition, or image marketplace like Shutterstock.

By using ImageEngine, you can reduce image payloads and accelerate delivery even further without compromising too harshly on visual quality. What’s more, ImageEngine’s adaptive image optimization technology will provide greater improvements to more of your visitors, regardless of what device(s) they use to browse the web.

Whether or not you still want to use WordPress’ built-in optimizations, ImageEngine will deliver significant improvements to your user experience, traffic metrics, and even conversions.

Plus, true to the spirit of WordPress, it’s extremely simple to set up without any advanced configuration. Just sign up for ImageEngine in 3 easy steps, install the plugin, integrate ImageEngine by copy/pasting your image domain, and you’re good to go.

 

[ This is a sponsored post on behalf of ImageEngine ]

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Nominations de Orlando Appell Directeur des Opérations et de Ryan Poggi, Managing Director par interim

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Paris, 26 janvier 2022 – Alors que SAP France, 5ème filiale de SAP, le plus grand éditeur de logiciels d’entreprise au monde, entre dans une nouvelle phase d’accélération dans le Cloud, des changements ont été apportés à la direction de l’entité commerciale pour soutenir son succès en 2022 et au-delà.

 

Gérald Karsenti reste Président du conseil d’administration et assure la direction générale de l’entreprise.

Pour renforcer l’entité commerciale de SAP France,

Orlando Appell est nommé Directeur des Opérations. Il remplace Stéphanie Perchet qui quitte le groupe.

Membre du Comité de direction, Orlando aura pour mission de développer la stratégie opérationnelle et d’optimiser les processus de SAP France afin de répondre aux enjeux de développement business vers le Cloud, d’adoption de son offre RISE with SAP et d’accompagnement des entreprises sur leurs priorités économiques et environnementales.

Orlando a rejoint SAP en 2011 en tant que Directeur des services France, puis a occupé différents postes de direction dans le domaine des ventes et du delivery, tant au niveau des Market Units que des régions. Il avait précédemment eu des fonctions exécutives Services chez Bull, Sun et T-Systems où il a acquis une riche expérience du monde de l’IT en France et à l’étranger.

Depuis le début de l’année 2021, Orlando était COO des Services pour EMEA North.
Sa parfaite connaissance de l’industrie et du groupe, son approche centrée sur les clients et ses talents de leader seront de solides atouts pour SAP France.

 

 

Ryan Poggi, est nommé Managing Director par interim de l’entité commerciale dans l’attente du recrutement d’un nouveau directeur général. Il conserve son rôle de Chief Business Officer pour la région EMEA North.

Ryan fait partie de l’équipe de direction régionale et, en tant que Chief Business Officer, il est responsable de la consolidation des principales fonctions en contact avec les clients, y compris les engagements des clients stratégiques, les partenariats et l’offre RISE with SAP, qui sont des domaines-clés pour SAP France.

Ryan a rejoint SAP en 2007 et a depuis occupé différents postes de leadership en EMEA et en APJ avant de revenir en Europe en 2019.

Il apporte une expérience significative à la fois dans le développement de la vente complexe mais aussi dans le déploiement de grands clients.

 

 

À propos de SAP

La stratégie de SAP vise à aider chaque organisation à fonctionner en “entreprise intelligente”. En tant que leader du marché des logiciels d’application d’entreprise, nous aidons les entreprises de toutes tailles et de tous secteurs à opérer au mieux : 77 % des transactions commerciales mondiales entrent en contact avec un système SAP®. Nos technologies de Machine Learning, d’Internet des objets (IoT) et d’analytique avancées aident nos clients à transformer leurs activités en “entreprises intelligentes”. SAP permet aux personnes et aux organisations d’avoir une vision approfondie de leur business et favorise la collaboration afin qu’elles puissent garder une longueur d’avance sur leurs concurrents. Nous simplifions la technologie afin que les entreprises puissent utiliser nos logiciels comme elles le souhaitent – sans interruption. Notre suite d’applications et de services de bout en bout permet aux clients privés et publics de 25 secteurs d’activité dans le monde de fonctionner de manière rentable, de s’adapter en permanence et de faire la différence. Avec son réseau mondial de clients, partenaires, employés et leaders d’opinion, SAP aide le monde à mieux fonctionner et à améliorer la vie de chacun.

Pour plus d’informations, visitez le site www.sap.com.

Contacts presse SAP

Chloé Jalaguier : chloe.jalaguier@publicisconsultants.com

Robin Legros : robin.legros@publicisconsultants.com

SAP News Center. Suivez SAP sur Twitter : @SAPNews.

Veuillez tenir compte de notre politique de confidentialité. Si vous avez reçu cette alerte de presse dans votre courriel et que vous souhaitez vous désabonner de notre liste d’envoi, veuillez communiquer avec presse-sap@publicisconsultants.com et écrire Désabonnement dans la ligne Objet.

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20 Best New Websites, January 2022

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So here we are, in a brand spanking new year—time for looking forward with fresh ideas and renewed hope for the year ahead. We are kicking off 2022 with a mixed bag and, we hope, something for everyone.

Whether you’re looking for inspiration to update your site or a fresh approach to work for a new client or want to spend a little while browsing around some corners of the internet you might not usually, welcome to the first collection of the year. Enjoy!

Justice Reskill 

Justice Reskill offers a learning platform and support for people who have been through the justice system. Information is presented clearly in a positive, uplifting tone, emphasized by a bright color scheme and friendly type.

TBD Post 

TBD Post’s site is fuss-free, clean, and pleasant to navigate. Work is well presented, in an organized way, with just the right amount of supplementary information.

Speedy 

Speedy is an online business bank, and this is a pretty standard, slick fin-tech site for the most part. The added extra is that the five versions of the site–with the same content in each–have different color accents based on the flag of the specific country listed.

Nuka 

This site for Nuka eternal stationery is a beautifully simple single page. The use of handwritten type in places adds an intimacy while emphasizing the nature of the products.

Omono 

This site for online business management app Omono presents a lot of information clearly, and with a calmness projected by the use of blues and greys and subtle animation.

Pienso 

A combination of bold type, a slightly tweaked red, green, and blue color scheme, and on-scroll animations makes this site for Pienso pop.

Maison Margiela 

Maison Margiela fully embraces the digital alternative to a live catwalk with this blend of single video and edited clips.

Marie O’Shepherd 

This portfolio site for book designer and art director Marie O’Shepherd takes a minimal approach and allows the work to take center stage.

Angry Ventures

Angry Ventures add personality and humor to their site to draw the user in and entertain, while their actual portfolio is only available on request.

Chapter One 

Chapter One’s site has light and dark theme options and some engaging animated graphics.

Vesti il Futuro 

Vesti il Futuro for Mani Tese uses comic book-style interactive graphics to raise awareness of issues surrounding the environment and fast fashion.

Gazelle No.1 

Some scroll-activated video enlivens this single-page site for Gazelle’s No.1 model.

TROA 

This site for creative agency Troa is an excellent example of the effectiveness of a monochrome color scheme, and there are some pleasing transitions too.

BDCC 

BDCC’s site has a bold, slightly jumbled feel that works really well. The falling lozenge menu items are a nice feature.

Mekanism

This is a great example of a stylish website for an agency portraying itself as well-established and super polished.

Redbrick 

Redbrick’s site has a youthful, vibrant feel with colors that change to match the product branding.

Accounting Box 

This site for Accounting Box makes good use of split-screen swapping from a vertical split on desktop to a horizontal split on mobile. The animations are pleasing too.

François-Joseph Graf 

The design for François-Joseph Graf’s site does the right thing by getting out of the way to avoid competing with the rather stunning products on show.

Monsta Cats 

Monsta Cats is a site dedicated to community focussed NFTs. The site is suitably anarchic and fun to browse.

Bien Fondé 

And finally, some customizable good wishes for the year ahead from digital agency Bien Fondé.

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How to Get Started with the MVP Workflow

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Few things are more important to a web designer or developer’s chances of success than having the proper workflow. The term “workflow” applies to the set of standardized steps you or your company uses to create, test, and deploy designs or products.

Over the years, as development processes have evolved, so too have the workflows experts use to bring their ideas to life. The MVP workflow, or “Minimum Viable Product” strategy, is one of the most popular options in 2022.

Here’s what you need to know about the MVP workflow and how it differs from some of the other standard workflows developers may be used to.

What is the Designer/Developer Workflow?

As mentioned above, the designer/developer workflow is a series of steps used by experts in the web design world to achieve a creative goal. The process includes the steps taken to start a project, evolve it, and finish it. Since software is never developed without tools, the technology you’ll access throughout the development process is also considered in most workflows.

An example of a standard development workflow might look like this:

  • Scaffolding: This is the stage wherein you start your new web project, creating a git repo, downloading libraries, preparing file structures, and completing other tasks to make sure your product is ready to roll out into the world.
  • Develop: This is where you’ll spend most of your time writing code for your application or website. The development process may include various specific tools and support from other staff members.
  • Test: In this stage, you examine the functionality of your code to determine if everything works as it should. If there are errors or issues, you can go back and develop fixes to the potential problems. Your code may go through the development/test process several times before you can move to the next stage.
  • Integrate: This is when you merge the code for your part of the development process with the rest of the team. You can also integrate your code into websites and existing apps at this point. If you’re working solo, you can skip this process.
  • Optimize: You prepare all your assets for use on a production server during the optimization stage. Files are generally optimized to ensure your visitors can view your site easily or access your applications with ease.
  • Deploy: In the deployment stage, developers push code and assets up into the server and allow for changes to be viewed by the public.

What is MVP? (Minimum Viable Product)

Now you know what a developer workflow looks like, you can begin to assess the concept of the “MVP” workflow. The term “MVP” stands for Minimum Viable Product.

The idea of “Minimum Viable Product” applies to a range of industries, from education to healthcare and government entities. This term comes from lean start-up practices and focuses heavily on the value of learning and changing during the development process.

When you adapt your workflow to focus on an MVP, you’re essentially adjusting your focus to a point where you can create a stripped-back version of something new – like an app or a website. The MVP is built just with the core features (the minimum), so you can bring the idea to market and test it as quickly as possible.

For instance, if your goal were to create an attractive new website for a client, an MVP would focus on implementing the crucial initial tools, and nothing else. While you may create checkout pages, product pages, and other aspects of the site, you wouldn’t populate it with content or start experimenting with bonus widgets and apps.

So, how does this offer a better alternative to the standard workflow?

Simply put, an MVP workflow is quick, agile, and easy. The idea is you can validate key concepts with speed, fail quickly, and learn just as fast. Rather than having to build an entire app and almost start over from scratch every time you find an error, you can race through the iteration and development process.

MVP workflows are also highly appealing to start-ups and entrepreneurs hoping to validate ideas without a massive amount of upfront investment.

Examples of MVP Workflows

Still confused? The easiest way to understand how an MVP workflow works is to look at an example.

Let’s start with a conceptual example. Say you were building a voice transcription service for businesses. The desired features of this product might include the ability to download transcription, translate them into different languages, and integrate them into AI analytics tools.

However, using the MVP approach, you wouldn’t try to accomplish all of your goals with your software at once. Instead, you’d focus on something simple first – like the ability to download the transcripts. Once you confirm you can do that, you can start a new workflow for the next most important feature for the app.

One excellent example of a company with an MVP approach is Airbnb. The entrepreneurs behind this unicorn company, Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky, didn’t have a lot of cash to build a business with at first. They had to use their own apartment to validate the idea of creating a website where people could share their available “space” in a home or apartment with the public.

To begin, Airbnb only created a very basic website, published photos of their property, and waited to see the results. After discovering people were genuinely interested in renting another person’s home, the company was able to begin experimenting with new ideas to make a site where people could list their properties for travelers.

The Pros and Cons of an MVP Workflow

There are a lot of benefits to the MVP workflow – particularly when it comes to gaining agility and developing new products quickly. However, there are downsides too.

Pros

  • With an MVP approach, you can maximize your learning opportunities and create a more innovative, successful product at speed. You get to test every step of the way.
  • You release iterations or versions of your product quickly, which means you discover problems faster, allowing you to quickly solve these issues.
  • You build on the benefits of customer fans, “evangelists” in the marketplace who are keen to help your product or service grow.
  • An MVP gives you more freedom to try out unique ideas and “risks” you might otherwise avoid with a traditional workflow.
  • Because you’re focusing on creating only the “minimum viable product,” you don’t have to spend a fortune on initially setting up your workflows.

Cons

  • Agile work with an MVP flow requires a lot of effort in collecting constant feedback from customers and releasing iterations.
  • You’ll need to dedicate yourself to releasing many small and frequent product releases on a tight schedule.
  • You might have to revise the functionality of your product or app a number of times.

Creating Your MVP Workflow

If you believe an MVP workflow might be effective for you, the first step is defining your “Minimum Viable Product.” The app, website, or product you design needs to align with your team’s strategic goals, so think about what your company is trying to achieve at this moment – before you get started. If you have limited resources, or specific purposes, like improving your reputation as a reliable company, now might not be the right time to develop a new MVP.

Ask what purpose your minimum viable product will serve and what kind of market you’re going to be targeting. You’ll need to know your target customer to help you test the quality and performance of each iteration of your MVP. Once you know what your ideal “product” is, ask yourself what the most important features will be.

You can base these decisions on things like:

  • User research
  • Competitive analysis
  • Feedback from your audience

For example, if you’re producing an AI chatbot that helps companies to sort through customer inquiries, the most important “initial feature” may be the ability to integrate that bot into existing websites and apps owned by the company.

MVP Approach Guidelines

Once you have your hierarchy of most valuable features for your minimum viable product, you can translate this into an action plan for development. Remember, although you’re focusing on the “minimum” in development, your product still needs to be “viable.” In other words, it still needs to allow your customer to achieve a specific goal.

  • Review your features: Reviewing your prioritized product requirements and the minimum level of functionality you can deliver with each of these “features.” You need to ensure you’re still providing value to your customer with anything you produce.
  • Build your solution: Build your minimum set of features for the product or service. Remember to build only what is required. You can use methodologies like the agile or waterfall method to help guide your team during this process.
  • Validate your solution: Release your offering into the market, and ensure you have tools in place to gather feedback from early adopters. Use beta programs, focus groups, and market interviews to understand how your solution works for your customers and where you can improve on your current offer.
  • Release new iterations: Based on what you learn from your target audience, release improvements to your product quickly. Use your validation strategies to collect information from your audience with each release.
  • Review again: Go back to your product requirements and desired features and start the process over again, this time focusing on the next most valuable functionality. Over time, the value of your minimum viable product will increase.

Using the MVP Workflow Approach

While the MVP workflow approach might not be the right solution for every development or design team, it can work very effectively in the right circumstances. The MVP approach doesn’t minimize the importance of understanding market problems and delivering value. Instead, the focus is on delivering quick value that gradually increases and evolves over time.

As many developers and designers know, the most useful form of product validation in most cases is real-world validation. When your customers have had an opportunity to use a product on a day-to-day basis, they can provide much more effective feedback.

Just keep in mind that committing to the MVP approach also means changing your workflow and committing to iterations – otherwise, other features may never be completed. You’ll need to be willing to work quickly and in small bursts without getting too heavily caught up in one feature or functionality.

 

Featured image via Pexels.

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Quiz: Are You Prepped For Meeting Design Clients?

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Walking into an initial meeting with a new client can be nerve-wracking. If you’re a freelancer, your income could depend on the outcome; if you’re part of an agency, then your colleagues’ incomes could rely on it too.

More often than not, you’re meeting someone successful enough at negotiating to own a company. The time you spent learning code, or a design system, they spent brokering deals.

So how do you know that you’re ready for the meeting? What questions should you ask? What answers should you provide? Check you’re prepared for meetings by bookmarking this week’s quiz and testing yourself in advance.

We’ll get started with an easy one about anatomy…

 

Featured image via Pexels.

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Free DevOps Training and Certifications You Should Know

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Our profession evolves every year, whether through the introduction of a new tool, a new cloud service, or a new working method. This constant evolution requires the establishment of a learning culture to continuously share experiences and ideas, thus encouraging everyone to gain new knowledge each year.

Obviously, this demands a portion of our working time and an online library of training resources maintained by entities with authority in the domain. These entities are responsible for updating the content to allow us to continuously improve our skills, sometimes to advance in our career in order to aim for an internal or external evolution. Therefore, relying on trusted education partners is important to ensure the highest-quality learning content.

Source de l’article sur DZONE

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